Light emitting diode (LED) packages for end-use lighting applications are known the art. FIG. 1 illustrates an example known LED package 10 comprising a single LED 12, which is a lateral or vertical LED, comprising a P contact 14 and an N contact 16 positioned along a top surface 18 of the LED and on an LED substrate 20, e.g., one that active material used to form the P and N junctions is epitaxially grown on. The LED 12 is disposed on a metal substrate 22 comprising P and N electrical terminals 24 and 26 that are separated from one another and held together by an electrically nonconductive material 28. The LED 12 is electrically connected with the metal substrate by wires 30 and 32 respectively extending from the LED P contact 14 and that is wired bonded to the metal substrate P terminal 24, and from the LED N contact 16 and that is wire bonded to the metal substrate N terminal 26. The LED may be encapsulated with a wavelength conversion material 34 to facilitate light emission from the LED in a particular wavelength.
Arrays of such known LEDs, e.g., two or more lateral or vertical LEDs, may be formed by interconnecting the P contact of one LED to an N contact of an adjacent LED in series by wires extending along the top surface of the LEDs. FIG. 2 illustrates an array 40 of known LEDs, e.g., a 3×3 array of lateral or vertical LEDS, wherein the LEDs 42 in the array are connected with in series to one another by wires 44 extending along the top surface between the P and N contacts of adjacent LEDs. The serially connected LEDs are then connected in parallel to the metal substrate by a wire 46 extending from the P contact of a first LED in the series to the P terminal 48 of the metal substrate, and a wire 50 extending from the N contact of a last LED in the series to the N terminal 52 of the metal substrate.
A feature of such known LED package is that they are costly to make given the time and labor associated with forming the wired connections from the LED to the metal substrate and, in an array configuration additionally with forming the wired serial electrical connections between the individual LEDs. Further, such LED packages are known to have less than optimal thermal properties, as the LED or LEDs in an array generate a large amount of heat when powered, which heat largely remains in the LED and is not efficiently extracted or removed therefrom during operation, thereby operating to reduce LED service life and reduce the service life of lighting devices or assemblies comprising the same.
It is, therefore, desired that LED package be constructed in a manner that is both cost efficient to make, and that has improved thermal performance properties when compared to such above-described LED constructions and packages.